Researches Into the Pathology and Treatment of the Asiatique or Algide Cholera (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1847. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER II. POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES IN CASES OF CHOLERA. The summary of the post-mortem appearances is drawn from a comparison of 46 dissections in males: of these, 39 were of persons dying in what has been called the blue or collapsed stage, and 7 of persons dying of the subsequent febrile affections. Of the 39 cases, 23 were Europeans, and 16 were Asiatics; and of these sixteen, 10 were Hindoos, and 6 Burmans. All these dissections were made with great care, and I believe that the general summary of facts may be confidently relied on. Four of the seven cases of consecutive fever were also made with great minuteness; but as the number is so small, I have not ventured to draw any conclusions from them, but have simply detailed them at a subsequent page. The average time after death at which the postmortem examination was made in the case of the 39 individuals above referred to, was 7i hours. The longest period was 22 hours, and the shortest under an hour. In 25 cases the time was under 10 hours. I was anxious to make the dissections as soon as possible after death, in order to avoid confounding the effects of climate and a high thermometric range with the results of the disease. The average age of the Europeans was 27 years; of the Asiatics, 38 years. The greatest age among the Europeans was 36, and the least 22 years; the greatest age among the Asiatics was 70, and the least 25 years. In order to avoid as much as possible the use of the indefinite terms " congested" and " engorged," I was anxious to devise some mode of estimating the quantity of blood contained in the minute tissues of organs. The following rough plan was the only one I could devise that was sufficiently simple and easy of application: --I weighed each organ entire, on its removal from th...